Hydrofoil boat



March 19, 1968 A. STEINBERG- 3,3 3,7 0

HYDROFO IL BOAT Filed June 1. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR AMIRAMSTEINBERG ATTORNEYS March 19, 1968 A. STEINBERG 3,373,710

HYDROFOIL BOAT Filed June 1, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS INVENTOR AMIRAMsremeeasg I gwu flvw i ATTORNEYS nited State 3,373,710 HYDROFOIL BOATAmiram Steinberg, Ann Arbor, Mich. (8 Vitkin St., Tel Aviv, Israel)Filed June 1, 1966, Ser. No. 554,372 Claims. (Cl. 114--39) ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE The hydrofoils of a hydrofoil-equipped sailboat areprovided with a pair of ailerons which are linkage-con- This inventionrelates to a hydrofoil boat, and more particularly to .a sailboatequipped with a hydrofoil having automatically controlled stabilizingand lift ailerons.

In the past, efforts have been made to equipsailboats and other smallcraft with hydrofoils which function to support the hull of the boatabove water in order to re duce resistance and thereby substantiallyincrease speed. In the case of sailboats, the transverse Wind forces onthe rigging, as well as the weight of the mast and sail, necessitatesome sort of counterbalancing means to prevent the boat from tippingover particularly when sailing on its hydrofoil.

In order to provide such stability, hydrofoil attempts utilizedextremely wide bases for support as well as various complicatedmechanisms to provide stability in addition to widening the base ofsupport. However to date, such type of hydrofoil sailboats have beenimpractical for many reasons, including lack of stability andinsufiicient maneuverability characteristics, and also size of foilsneeded, etc.

Hence, it is an object of this invention to provide a sailboat havinghydrofoils which include ailerons which operate automatically inresponse to pressure on the mast, that is, such as wind pressure on thesail transmitted to the mast, to compensate for and conuterbalance suchpressure and stabilize the boat under all operating conditions.

A further object of this invention is to provide a hydrofoil sailboatwhich utilizes at least two ailerons constructed to automaticallyfunction as lift flaps before and at times during take-off of the hullfrom the water and thereafter to function as stabilizers toautomatically counterbalance and stabilize the boat against wind forcesupon the sail and against centrifugal forces during sharp turns, etc. I

Yet, another object of this invention is to provide a hydrofoil sailboathaving a relatively inexpensive and simple automatic control andconstruction for automatically compensating for wind pressures forstabilizing the boat and for providing additional lift during take-offfrom the water.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent upon readingthe following description of which the attached drawings form a part.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the sailboat herein.

'FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, enlarged, of a portion of thesail-boat taken in the direction of arrows 2-2'of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective View of the hydrofoil construction,and,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the rear of the sailboat showing therear supporting hydrofoil and rudder.

" atent O FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic view showing the controlmechanism for operating the ailerons.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show the sailboat in three different sailing conditionsand are schematical views as if taken from the bow direction.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly FIG. 1, the sailboat 10 isformed of a hull 11, with a mast 12 having a swingable boom 13 whichtogether carry the main sail 14. As is conventional, the main sail iscontrolled by the conventional main sheet 1 5.

The usual jib 16 is shown mounted upon the forestay as is conventionallyfound on sloop rigged boats of the Marconi type rigging.

In addition, shrouds 17 are connected at their upper ends 18 to themast, with the mounting of the lower ends of the shrouds to be describedbelow.

The foregoing description describes a conventional sailboat in generalconstructions.

The invention herein relates to the construction of the hydrofoil, whichas shown in FIG. 3 is generally designated as 20. Such hydrofoilincludes a vertical center support 21 at whose lower end the hydrofoil22 is secured. Upwardly bent stabilizer foils 23 extend outwardly andupwardly from the opposite ends of the hydrofoil portion 22 and sidesupports 24 support the sides of the hydrofoil and interconnect themwith the ide portions of the hull. As can be seen, the hydrofoil isrelatively narrow, preferably being not much wider than the beam of theboat, and is located approximately beneath the mast.

A pair of ailerons 25 are hingedly connected at 26 to the hydrofoil 22.

Referring to FIG. 4, a similar hydrofoil may be provided at the aft orstern end of the boat, this being generally designatedas 27 andcomprising a center support 28 to which the rudder 29 is hingedlyconnected with the tiller 30 being above the deck of the boat forcontrol. The hydrofoil 31 includes the stabilizer foils 32 at itsopposite ends and side supports 33 connecting the ends of the hydrofoilto the sides of the hull.

Ailerons may be included in this construction where desired, and wherenecessary due to the size of the boat, but for illustrative purposes noreference to such ailerons is shown in the drawings in FIG. 4.

The two ailerons 25 (see FIG. 5) are controlled for joint movementupwardly and downwardly, particularly downwardly, to increase lift whenneeded as well as to operate independently, but oppositely, with onegoing up and the other going down, to provide transverse stabilizationwhen the hull is out of the water. The control means for operating thestabilizers include a control drum 35 having fastener points 36 securedon one face thereof to which are connected stiff control rods 37 whoselower ends are connected by pins 38 to each of the ailerons 25.

The control drum 35 is rotatably mounted upon shaft 39 supported bybearings 40 which in turn are supported by springs 41 having their loweredges joined to brackets 42. The brackets which are fixed to the hull ofthe boat are provided with guide slots 43 for guiding the ends of theshaft 39 for upward and downward movement only, against the resistanceof the springs 41, which normally pull the shaft downwardly.

A pulley 45 rotatably mounted upon a shaft 46, secured to the hull ofthe boat (by mountings not shown) is connected to the control drum 35 bymeans of a belt 47. Preferably, the pulley as well as the control drumis provided with teeth, like sprockets, and the belt 47 is also toothedfor more positive drive.

The lower ends of the shrouds 17 pass about pulleys 48 secured atopposite sides of the hull and then extend downwardly and are connectedtogether at 49 to a point on the belt 47.

In Operation, referring to FIG. 5, the two control drum fastener points36 are horizontally aligned and the springs 41 pull the control drumshaft 39 downwardly to thereby push the stiff rods 37 downwardly, whichin turn forces the two ailerons simultaneously downwardly. In thatposition, as shown in FIG. 6, the hull of the boat is riding in thewater and the two ailerons, well beneath the boat within the water, nowincrease lift to assist in the take off of the hull from the water asthe speed of the boat increases.

As the boat picks up speed and begins to ride upon the foils, asschematically shown for example in FIG. 7, the water pressure againstthe ailerons force them upwardly towards complete alignment with thehydrofoil 22 and as these ailerons move upwardly, they in turn force therods 37 upwardly to thus force the control drum 35 with its shaft 39upwardly.

Now, with the boat riding upon its hydrofoil the force of the wind uponthe sail will cause the mast 27 to shift away from the wind under theforce. The movement of the mast may be accomplished by mounting the mastpi-votally at its lower end for such movement or the mast may beslightly flexible so that it bends as many masts commonly do. As the topof the mast moves away from center, it exerts a pull on the shroud onthe windward side while the shroud 17 on the leeward side tends tobecome slackened. (See the arrows in FIG. and also FIG. 8.)

The difference in tension in the two shrouds, that is, the pull on thewindward shroud as compared with the slackening on the leeward shroud,causes the shrouds to move and thereby causes the belt 49 to move withthe shroud to which it is connected. This rotates the control drum 35 toforce one of the rods 37 downwardly, while pulling the other oneupwardly, thereby lowering one aileron and raising the other asufiicient amount to compensate for the force on the shroud as shown inFIG. 8, wherein one aileron is up and the other downwardly, the aileronsnow counterbalance the force of the wind to stabilize the boat andpermit it to sail at high speed upon the hydrofoil.

As the force upon the mast, that is the wind force upon the sailincreases, the ailerons will further move apart and as the forcedecreases, the ailerons will automatically move towards alignment withthe hydrofoil. Hence, it can be seen that the ailerons automatically andinstantaneously respond to the varying force upon the mast to stabilizethe boat at all times, even under gusty conditions and the like.

Even while the hull is in the water, the ailerons can also oppositelyact as well as be moved jointly downwardly, to stabilize the boat aswell as at the same time increasing lift for take off.

The specific hydrofoil construction illustrated above may be modifiedinto other hydrofoil forms, but the i1- lustrated form seemed to bepreferable for maximum stability for this type of craft, namely, arelatively small sailboat, while other hydrofoil forms may be desiredfor other size and shape boats, but utilizing the invention herein,namely, an aileron construct-ion as described above.

Likewise, the means for controlling the ailerons may be varied somewhatwithin the scope of this invention, such as controlling the ailerons byconnecting the main sheet, which controls the sail, to the control meansas the means of transmitting the force upon the sail to the controldrum. Alternatively, the mast may be mounted so that its lower endslides transversely or sideways and is also connected to the controldrum to provide movement of the drum in response to movement of thelower end of the mast.

This invention may he further developed within the scope of thefollowing claims. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoingdescription be read as being merely illustrative of an operativeembodiment of this invention, and not in a strictly limited sense.

Having fully described an operative embodiment of this invention, I nowclaim:

1. A sailboat comprising a hull having a mast upon which a sail issecured, and a hydrofoil secured to and mounted beneath and transverselyof said hull;

said hydrofoil including a pair of ailerons movably fastened thereto forupwardly and downwardly movement relative thereto, with one aileronextending from the center line of the hull and towards one side edgethereof and the other aileron extending between said center line andopposite side edge of the hull;

control means for raising and lowering said ailerons and meansconnecting said control means to each of said ailerons;

said control means being movably mounted upon said hull and beingmovable in one direction to simultaneously raise one aileron and lowerthe other and movable in an opposite direction to reversely move saidailerons;

force transmitting means interconnecting the sail and said control meansfor moving said control means in response to the direction and amount offorce applied to said sail, wherein said control means moves in responseto such force to thereby move said ailerons in directions to counteractand counterbalance the force upon the sail;

said control means being movable upwardly and downwardly in addition toits aforementioned directions of movement, to thereby move both aileronsupwardly and downwardly simultaneously in addition to oppositely movingsaid ailerons, and resistance means normally holding the control meansin a position for moving both ailerons simultaneously downwardly forholding the ailerons in a lift angle position before the hull leaves thewater during sailing;

said resistant means being formed to become relatively inoperative upona predetermined water pressure upon the ailerons to no longer hold theailerons in a lift position beyond a predetermined speed as determinedby water pressure.

2. A sailboat comprising a hull having a mast upon which a sail issecured, and a hydrofoil secured to and mounted beneath and transverselyof said hull;

said hydrofoil including a pair of ailerons movably fastened thereto forupwardly and downwardly movement relative thereto, with one aileronextending from the center line of the hull and towards one side edgethereof and the other aileron extending between said center line andopposite side edge of the hull;

control means for raising and lowering said ailerons and meansconnecting said control means to each of said ailerons;

said control means being movably mounted upon said hull and beingmovable in one direction to simultaneously raise one aileron and lowerthe other and movably in an opposite direction to reversely move saidailerons;

force transmitting means interconnecting the sail and said control meansfor moving said control means in response to the direction and amount offorce applied to said sail, wherein said control means moves in responseto such force to thereby move said ailerons in directions to counteractand counterbalance the force upon the sail;

said control means comprising a rotatable drum, and

said means for connecting said control means to said ailerons comprisingstiff rods, each connected at one end to the drum and at opposite endsto one aileron with the connection to the drum being at opposite sidesof the drum axis so that rotation of the drum in one direction raisesone rod and lowers the other to thereby move the ailerons in oppositedirections;

said drum being movable upwardly and downwardly for thereby moving bothailerons simultaneously upwardly and donwwardly for adjusting theailerons into a substantial lift providing position while the hull is inthe water for assisting the hydrofoil in lifting the hull out of thewater for sailing only upon the hydrofoil;

and spring means connected to said drum for holding the drum in aposition wherein both ailerons normally are in a lift providingposition, but said spring means being of a predetermined value to beovercome by a predetermined water pressure upon said ailerons calibratedat approximately the speed where the hull leaves the water, forreturning the drum, under pressure applied to the ailerons, to aposition where it no longer moves the ailerons to a substantial liftproviding position.

3. A construction as defined in claim 2, and said force transmittingmeans comprising shrouds connected at one end to the opposite sides ofthe mast and at their opposite ends to a means for rotating said drum inresponse to tautening of one or the other of said shrouds.

4. A construction as defined in claim 3, and said means for rotatingsaid drum comprising a pulley mounted on said hull and connected to saiddrum by a belt with the shrouds connected to said belt.

5. A sailboat comprising a hull having a mast upon which a sail issecured, and a hydrofoil secured to and mounted beneath and transverselyof said hull;

said hydrofoil including a pair of ailerons movably fastened thereto forupwardly and downwardly movement relative thereto, with one aileronextending from the center line of the hull and towards one side edgethereof and the other aileron extending between said center line andopposite side edge of the hull;

control means for raising and lowering said ailerons and meansconnecting said control means to each of said ailerons;

said control means being movably mounted upon said hull and beingmovable in one direction to simultaneously raise one aileron and lowerthe other and movable in an opposite direction to reversely move saidailerons;

force transmitting means comprising shrouds connected to each side ofthe mast and extending to and connected to said control means for movingsaid control means in response to the direction and amount of forceapplied to said mast from the sail, wherein said control meansautomatically moves in response to such force to thereby move saidailerons in directions to counteract and counterbalance the force uponthe sail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,703,063 3/1955 Gilr-uth 11466.52,858,788 11/1958 Lyman 114-39 3,099,976 8/1963 Schwaneke et a1. 11491MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

T. M. BLIX, Assistant Examiner.

